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On June 9, Major League Baseball will host its 52nd annual Rule 4 draft, better known as the first-year player draft. The Mets, who won the National League pennant after finishing the regular season with a 90-72 record, will make the nineteenth overall selection. In addition, the team will make the thirty-first overall selection as a compensation pick due to the loss of second baseman Daniel Murphy, who signed with the Washington Nationals this past winter.
Draft-eligible players come from a variety of backgrounds. The following players residing in the United States and its territories are eligible to be drafted:
- All college juniors and seniors
- College freshmen and sophomores at four-year programs who are at least 21 years of age at the time of the draft
- All junior college players, regardless of age
- High school seniors
All draftees, with a handful of exceptions, must be signed by July 15. Players that do not sign with teams by the deadline are eligible to be selected in the following year's draft, provided they still meet the criteria listed above. Any team that fails to sign its first- or second-round selection is be provided a compensation pick, which comes one slot later in the following year's draft than the pick the team used on the unsigned player. Any team that fails to sign its third-round pick gets a compensation pick after round three but before round four in the following year's draft. From the fourth round onward, no compensation is awarded for failing to sign a draft pick.
How much teams can spend on signing draftees is capped by their bonus pool, a sum of money decided upon by Major League Baseball based on the team's draft position, the league's recommended draft slot bonus per round, and other factors. Teams that go over their pool are penalized, with punishments ranging from a "luxary tax" to the forfeiture of draft picks. As per the MLB/MLBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, pools are to grow in proportion to revenue growth from the previous year. According to Baseball America, the 2016 bonus pools are just over 4.6 percent higher than they were in 2015.
As determined by Major League Baseball, the Mets' bonus pool for the Rule 4 Draft is $7,578,000, broken down as follows:
| Round | Bonus Pool Slot Value |
|---|---|
| First Round | $2,378,800 |
| Second Round | $1,009,200 |
| Third Round | $596,600 |
| Fourth Round | $446,500 |
| Fifth Round | $334,500 |
| Sixth Round | $250,500 |
| Seventh Round | $187,800 |
| Eighth Round | $175,400 |
| Ninth Round | $163,700 |
| Tenth Round | $156,600 |